At the Hands of the Old [DISCONTINUED]

Chapter 12

March 3, 2042

Beacon Academy
1100 hours

Team RWBY, except for Blake, were in Beacon's main hall setting up for the dance. Ruby had helped for a little while, but her concern for Blake had derailed her good intentions and she landed at one of the tables, elbows on tabletop and head in hands. Suddenly, Weiss slammed down two samples in front of her. "I need you to pick a tablecloth."

Ruby looked at the grey squares before her and made a face. "Aren't they both the same?"

Weiss groaned. "I don't know why I even asked."

Ruby sighed and went back to feeling sorry for Blake.

Yang walked by and dropped a speaker bigger than herself near Ruby. "So, have you picked out a dress yet?"

"What's the point? Who cares about the dance if Blake isn't going?"

"Oh, don't worry. She's going." Yang sounded awfully sure. She looked up to see what Weiss was doing. "Weiss! I thought we agreed! No doilies!"

"If I don't get doilies, you don't get fog machines."

"Your dance is going to have fog machines?"

The girls turned and saw Neptune and Sun.

"We were thinking about it," said Weiss pleasantly to Neptune.

Somewhere in the back of Yang's mind, she thought, 'If Neptune wanted fog machines with no doilies, I bet he could get them.'

"That's pretty cool."

Sun asked, "You ladies all excited for dress-up?"

"Pft. Yeah, right," said Ruby.

"Laugh all you want," said Yang. "I'll be turning heads tomorrow night."

"What are you two wearing?" asked Weiss.

"Uh... this!" said Sun, pointing at his usual threads.

"Ignore him," said Neptune. "For he knows not what he says."

"Hey! I may have moved to Mistral, but I grew up in Vacuo. It's not exactly a shirt-and-tie kind of place."

"Yeah," said Yang. "We noticed." Sun's beach bum look had gotten old with her real fast. About the same time she learned that he took an interest in Blake.

"So, uh... what does Blake think of all this? Is she still being all... you know, Blake-y?"

"Obviously," said Weiss.

"I still can't think of a way to change her mind," said Ruby.

"Guys," began Yang, "trust me. Blake will be at the dance tomorrow." Without expounding further, Yang decided it was time to enact Operation Laser Cat.

While everyone in the school, including her team, was entrenched with the dance, Blake was by herself in the library at one of the computers still looking for information on Torchwick and the White Fang. She had decided to dig in all the familiar, illicit spots online where the Fang talked about their plans, but things were different this time. They had covered their tracks well. Too well. That worried Blake because the Fang had always been a little sloppy and left a trail. Whatever they were up to must have been pretty serious.